This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of any prior art.
With the diminishing supply of petroleum crude oil, use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly important for the production of liquid fuels. These fuels from renewable energy sources are often referred to as biofuels.
Biofuels derived from non-edible renewable energy sources, such as cellulosic materials derived from plants, are preferred as these do not compete with food production. These biofuels are also referred to as second generation, renewable or advanced, biofuels.
One of the existing processes comprises pyrolysing such cellulosic materials derived from plants to obtain a pyrolysis oil, and upgrading and subsequently catalytic cracking of the pyrolysis oil to obtain chemicals and fuel products.
EP2325281 describes a process for catalytic cracking of a pyrolysis oil derived from material comprising lignocellulose, comprising the steps of a) subjecting a feed comprising the pyrolysis oil to a hydrodeoxygenation step to obtain a product stream comprising a partially deoxygenated pyrolysis oil; b) separating the partially deoxygenated pyrolysis oil having an oxygen content of from 5 to 30 wt % from the product stream obtained in a); c) contacting the partially deoxygenated pyrolysis oil obtained in b) in the presence of a hydrocarbon feed derived from a mineral crude oil with a cracking catalyst under catalytic cracking conditions to obtain a deoxygenated and cracked product stream; and d) separating at least one product fraction from the product stream obtained in c). EP2325281 further describes that the co-feeding in step c) may be attained by blending the partially deoxygenated pyrolysis oil and the hydrocarbon feed streams prior to the entry into a cracking unit, or alternately, by adding them at different stages.
However, in order to scale up the process of EP2325281 to a commercial scale, the process may require improvements to meet nowadays conversion, robustness, maintenance and/or safety requirements.
It would be an advancement in the art to provide a process allowing one to scale up a process for co-feeding of a partially or wholly deoxygenated pyrolysis oil and a hydrocarbon co-feed in a catalytic cracking unit to a commercial scale; and/or to provide a process allowing one to revamp existing commercial catalytic cracking units to allow for co-feeding of a partially or wholly deoxygenated pyrolysis oil and a hydrocarbon co-feed.